Wednesday 23 January 2008

vEry intErEsting


Ernest Vincent Wright wrote Gadsby: "A Story of Over 50,000 Words Without Using the Letter "E". Except for his preface and postscript, nowhere in the book is the letter "E" found. Not an easy feat considering that "E" is the most commonly used letter in the English alphabet.
You can judge the outcome with the first and last paragraphs of the novel.

"If youth, throughout all history, had had a champion to stand up for it; to show a doubting world that a child can think; and, possibly, do it practically; you wouldn’t constantly run across folks today who claim that “a child don’t know anything.”A child’s brain starts functioning at birth; and has, amongst its many infant convolutions, thousands of dormant atoms, into which God has put a mystic possibility for noticing an adult’s act, and figuring out its purport."

"A glorious full moon sails across a sky without a cloud. A crisp night air has folks turning up coat collars and kids hopping up and down for warmth. And that giant star, Sirius, winking slyly, knows that soon, now, that light up in His Honor’s room window will go out. Fttt! It is out! So, as Sirius and Luna hold an all-night vigil, I’ll say a soft “Good-night” to all our happy bunch, and to John Gadsby — Youth’s Champion."

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